Biden’s mask mandate on airplanes, trains blocked by Florida federal judge

Senator Wicker has been calling for the transportation mask mandate to end for nearly a year.

A federal judge in Florida has blocked the Biden Administration’s mask mandate on public transportation, namely airplanes and trains.

The Biden Administration has repeatedly extended the expiration of this mandate, recently pushing it back again to May 3rd.

Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle heard the case brought by the Health Freedom Defense Fund against President Joe Biden in the U.S. District Court.  She declared the mask mandate “unlawful” and vacated the President’s order.

Mizelle was appointed to the court by former President Donald Trump.

The Judge states that the mask mandate exceeds the CDC’s statutory authority, stating that the CDC “improperly invoked the good cause exception to notice and comment rulemaking, and failed to adequately explain its decisions. Because ‘our system does not permit agencies to act unlawfully even in pursuit of desirable ends’…”

For nearly a year, Mississippi U.S. Senator Roger Wicker has led the effort to urge the Biden Administration to end the transportation mask mandate.

READ MORE: Senator Wicker leads call to President Biden to end federal COVID travel restrictions, mask mandates

Wicker, ranking member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, just last month led 31 Senators in a letter to President Biden urging the Administration to lift travel restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Americans are ready to move past this pandemic and get on with their normal daily lives,” Wicker said. “Federal travel restrictions like mask mandates and testing requirements are increasingly unnecessary to keep people safe and control the spread of the coronavirus. COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations are declining, immunity rates are climbing, and a growing number of treatments are now available. It is time for the federal government to recognize this reality, follow the science, and reduce or eliminate these restrictions immediately.”

Mississippi’s other U.S. Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith joined Wicker in signing the letter to the President.